China probes senior officials linked to former strongman in graft scandal

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More than a dozen senior officials were probed by Chinese investigators, about links to retired domestic security Chief Zhou Yongkang, who is the subject of a corruption probe, sources said.
Those questioned also included the country’s top prosecutor.
Zhou, 71, is the most senior Chinese politician to be trapped in a graft scandal since the Communist Party swept to power in 1949. Three sources, with ties to the leadership, said more than a dozen officials of ranks equivalent to a cabinet minister or vice minister have been questioned since last year in connection with the case.
The questioning will not necessarily lead to prosecution but these investigations into the affairs of China’s top leaders are extraordinary and highlight President Xi Jinping’s determination to crack down on corruption. Xi has warned that corruption, a major source of discontent among China’s people, is a threat to the party’s survival.
While the probe does not risk a split in the party, as Zhou does not have a popular support base, he still has many loyalists in the country’s security apparatus who benefited from his patronage.
The officials who were questioned have not been taken into custody, but are barred from leaving the country, said the sources, who requested anonymity to avoid repercussions for discussing secretive elite politics.
The officials include the country’s top prosecutor Cao Jianming and people in the security apparatus – the police force and civilian intelligence agency – that Zhou used to head, they said.
Several lower-ranking Beijing city government officials as well as anchors of state broadcaster CCTV have also been questioned, the sources said.
Zhou was a member of the party’s Politburo Standing Committee – the apex of power in the country – and held the immensely powerful post of security tsar until he retired in 2012.
The government has yet to make any kind of official statement about Zhou or the case against him and it has not been possible to contact him for comment.